HOW TO WRITE A STANDARD CV IN NIGERIA WITH SAMPLES
Jobs are said to be scarce and difficult to come by these days. Unemployment rate continues to soar and competition in the job market just turned a notch hotter. This is why you should consider the task of creating an effective CV crucial in order to secure your dream.
The purpose of a CV is basically to demonstrate that you have the required skills and competence to take on a job role. Not all jobs require a CV, but more often that not, this document is required by recruiters to determine suitable candidates for a job placement.
Use the following steps to create your own CV
- Decide what format to use
- Start up with your contact information
- Write your personal profile
- List out relevant work experience
- Insert a section for your educational background
- Insert relevant skills
- Write out relevant interests
- Then add your references
Decide what format to use
The format you use says a lot about your proficiency. You may deem it fit to break each section with a line. You can create boxes for each section or even list out all the information.
You’re allowed to tweak your CV format to ensure it comes out attractive. In a knot shell- Be creative.
Start up with your contact information
Your contact details should represent the header of your CV. List your name, your mobile contact, your e-mail address, contact information and social media handles.
Note that your name should be clear, correctly spelt and should appear as the same order in other important documents.
An example is; ODUNAYO ADEDOYIN
The standard format of creating your personal profile is to put your name in the center of the page with your contact addresses listed in a block format in the left corner of the page.
Write out your name boldly in which case it should stand out from other personal details. Your mobile number and e-mail address should be put beneath your contact information.
Write your personal profile
This is the part you get to sell your skills. Although, an optional section, your personal profile is more of a description of your personal qualities and experiences.
Make use of affirmative words like; “confident” “thorough” “adapatable” “resillient” and so on
A well written personal profile will get you remembered by the recruiter. Be sure to make it short and snappy, no more than 100 words.
An example; “Confident chartered accountant, registered with ICAN, trained to work under pressure or stressed environments, and yet, stay calm. Seeking to leverage decision-making and record-keeping skills to help JOY and Co LTD in their upcoming project…”
List out relevant work experience
Your work experience is a vital aspect of your CV. It shows your prospective employer how and in what ways you can fill in a certain job position. And as expected, it gets the most attention.
Point to note; it is better to include job experiences that are closely related or relevant to the job you are vying for. If you’re applying for a job as a project supervisor, your CV should contain work experiences related to that. Also listing of work experiences should start from the most recent to the older. ONLY in that order, please.
Insert a section for your educational background
Just like the section for listing job experiences, this section should be written in reverse chronological order. Let it start from your most recent educational qualification to the older ones.
Write out the name of the school, the date of graduation and type of qualification attained from that institution.
Insert relevant skills
Create a section for your peculiarities and skill set. Here, you are to list out all the skills you’ve acquired throughout your career.
Since it’s probable that you’ve got a lot of skills, you want to focus on the relevant ones. Tailor your skill set to the job you’re applying for, whenever. Just write out the most relevant and don’t bother about the rest
Write out relevant interests
The information you put here must clearly impact your prospective job role. Trust me, you don’t want to include interests that conflict with the job position.
Create a section for your references
These should be people with more forte and experience than you, possibly people you’ve worked with or interacted with earlier in your carrier. Examples are your teachers, a professor, previous employees and so forth.
You are expected to add quick contact information of your references too. Also, you should first consult with whomever you wish to use as reference before having them listed.
And that’s it. You’re ready to send in a CV for that job. Remember to proofread for grammatical and spelling errors. G
WHAT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN A STANDARD CV IN NIGERIA
Now that you know how to create a basic CV, I feel it makes sense to talk about certain areas in cv writing, in this case; stuff that have no business appearing in your CV.
Let’s review a few of them here;
- Private information
- Colourful texts, weird fonts
- An objective
- Reasons for leaving a former position
- Unnecessary repetitions
- More than 15 years of experience
- Buzzwords
Private information
Stuff like your personal preferences such as; religious, family background, etc are not necessary in your CV
Colourful texts and weird fonts
While you need to be creative, the use artistic font styles is out of it. It is enough to keep your writings within the conventional black and white format. The first impression you set for the recruiter is what will get you through the door, so it’s imperative you avoid pointless inclusions.
An objective
If you don’t understand the purpose and place of an objective, it’s safer not to include it AT ALL.
A funny objective won’t do at all. In fact, a poorly framed objective will make the recruiter not take you seriously, and like I already mentioned can make your CV less inviting.
Better not to include it.
Reasons for leaving a former position
Your reasons for leaving your former job are a private matter, and hence, should not be included in your CV. Your CV is not the right place for this kind of information.
So listing your reasons for leaving your former position is irrelevant and totally not helpful on CV. An interview should be sufficient to address this. Then you can comfortably explain to your interviewer the reasons for any transitions from one job to another.
Unnecessary repetitions
There’s no need to write out the phrase “phone number” before your phone number. Skip that. The reader already knows it’s your phone number. That’s just unnecessary word clogging. It should be avoided.
The same goes for the e-mail address. Leave out the phrase and get on with it. It’s already obvious to the recruiter or anyone reading it that it’s your e-mail address.
More than 15 years’ experience
Do not include job experiences from 15 years and beyond. When you include stuff like this, the interest on the part of the hirer begins to wane. Truth be told, it does come off as an autobiography. And if you have to, you can simply leave out the dates.
Buzzwords
Moving on, buzzwords are a no no. Words like result-oriented, go-getter, detail-oriented etc are a not as impressive as you think. Avoid them.
Instead use action words like achieved, managed etc. But do so in moderation.
Do you have a scholarship, fellowship, grant, boot camp or any other opportunity you want to apply for today?
CALL: +2349037887718, send email to topstudentsng@gmail.com or Fill this Form now
We have eager team of professionals who are willing to assist you with the application process.
If you have questions or need further help, please do well to contact us TODAY (topstudentsng@gmail.com or +2349037887718
One Response